Gone: A Memoir of Love, Body, and Taking Back My Life

When Linda Olson became a triple amputee at twenty-nine, her husband declared, “I didn’t marry your arms and your legs.” This is the inspiring memoir of how they chose not to be victims and went on to succeed in careers as physicians, become parents, and travel the world.

Linda Olson and her husband, Dave Hodgens, were young doctors whosestory had all the makings of a fairy tale. But then, while they werevacationing in Germany, a train hit their van, shattering theirlives—and Linda’s body. When Linda saw Dave for the first time afterlosing her right arm and both of her legs, she told him she wouldunderstand if he left. His response: “I didn’t marry your arms or yourlegs. If you can do it, I can do it.”

In order to protect their loved ones, they decided to hide the truthabout what really happened on those train tracks, and they kept theirsecret for thirty-five years. As a triple amputee, Linda learned to walkwith prostheses and change diapers and insert IVs with one hand. Shefinished her residency while pregnant and living on her own. And she andDave went on to pursue their dream careers, raise two children, andtravel the world.

Inspiring and deeply moving, Gone asks readers to find not onlycourage but also laughter in the unexpected challenges we all face. Theday of the accident, no one envied Linda and Dave. Today, many do.

Weight: 340g
Dimension: 139 x 216 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781631527890